Anna Van Houten
by Black Raven Feather
Summary: What if Anna never had cancer and lived, but Peter still wrote the book anyway? Anna will have to put up with her father, but her life will change. Starting with an email from Augustus Waters. Please read!
1. 1: Night of the Broken Plates

**Chapter One: Night of the Broken Plates**

Hello, everyone. My name is Anna Marie Van Houten. I am thirteen years old, and my dad, Peter Van Houten, wrote the book 'An Imperial Affliction'.

The book is about me, but if I had chorlea. He regretted writing the book, and now we live in Amsterdam. Dad is an alcoholic, and most of the time I spend in my room or with Lidewij.

One day, Dad started getting emails from these kids in America. Augustus Waters and Hazel Grace Lancaster. These two kids changed my life forever. This is my story.

* * *

On April Sixth, 2012, Lidewij received an email from Augustus Waters. Technically, I found the email. Because I was the one on the computer.

"Lidewij?" I half yelled. "What is it, sweetheart?" Lidewij asked. "You have an email." I said, getting off the chair and showing the laptop to her. She read the email, then smiled. "It's actually for your dad. I'll go show it to him, and then we'll have dinner. All right?" I nodded, not wanting to see Dad at the moment. He was drunk, and I've learned not to disturb him when he's drunk. I exited the room, then walked up the stairs into my room.

My room looks like a fruit. It's light orange, and it was silver stars pasted on the walls. My bed is twin sized with a yellow comforter and white pillows. I have my book shelf, a mirror, and a desk. I walked over to the mirror and attempted to brush my hair.

I look average. I have brown hair with blond highlights that goes down to my shoulders, and I have brown eyes. I'm 5'4, and I'm kinda pale. Today I was wearing a purple dress with no sleeves that reached my knees.

When I was done, I walked back downstairs and attempted to set the table. I laid out placemats and silverware, and I had a whole stack of plates ready when I heard shouting.

Dad and Lidewij. Probably about the email. I rolled my eyes, and was about to get ready when Lidewij and Dad walked into the room. Lidewij looked frustrated, and Dad looked...not so sober. I instantly felt the tension in the air, and I didn't want to become a part of it.

"I got that, honey." Dad said, taking the plates from me. I looked over at Lidewij, and she nodded. I handed the stack of plates to him, and he managed to keep his hands steady.

"So, Dad, did you read the email?" I asked.

"Yes." Dad said.

"What was it about?" I asked again.

"Oh, it was pretty much fan mail, saying how great the book was and how much it meant to them, bla, bla, bla, yada, yada, yada, same crap I get everyday."

"Will you write a sequel, Dad? I mean, even I wonder what happened to the characters every now and then, and it's not like you can finish the book in a middle of a sentence without people wond-" I stopped. I noticed that Dad had froze, and was just standing there at the table with a stack of plates in his hands. Then, suddenly, he set the plates down on the table and picked one up.

"Dad?" I questioned.

Then there was the plate.

Dad threw the plate at me, it hitting me in the arm and shattering when it hit the floor. Believe me, plates hurt like hell.

"Dad? What are you doing? Dad, stop! Dad!" I said, my voice rising to a scream. Dad continued to throw plates at me while I dodged some plates and others hit me. "Peter!" Lidewij yelled in an attempt to stop him. But no, the plates kept coming.

"Daddy, stop it!" I screamed, another plate hitting me in the chest. In an attempt to run backwards, I fell over. Dad ran up to me, continuing to throw plates. He grabbed a plate, ran over to me, and sat down on my stomach. I tried to crawl out from under him, but failed miserably. As I gasped for air, Dad rose the plate over his head, and brought it down on my head, the plate shattering as soon as it came in contact.

The world became very blurry, and my head hurt like shit, but I was determined not to give in. As Dad raised another plate above his head, I used all my will power to stand up for me. "Dad, stop it." I said. My voice had power in it, and it scared me. Dad still had the plate raised above his head. I tried again. "Daddy, stop it." I said again, my voice breaking. He faltered for a moment, and then there was my window of opportunity.

I flat out punched my dad in the stomach.

Dad groaned, and dropped the plate behind him. He slightly moved off me, and I took all my strength, to get him off my stomach. When I did, I stood up and ran upstairs, going into my room.

I grabbed a pair of jeans and pulled them on under my dress, then took my dress off and grabbed an orange T-shirt. I pulled it on, then grabbed navy blue converse and hastily tied them. My head still hurt like crazy, and I had plate shards in my left arm. I grabbed a grey zip-up hoodie (while doing all this with my right hand and arm, because the other had plate in it) attempted to put it on, and with success, I left.

I ran downstairs and was about to open the door, when Dad came out of the kitchen and pinned me to the wall. I struggled to leave, or move in general, but he had a firm grip on me.

"Anna, baby, come on," he said. "You know I don't mean to do it, it's the alcohol."

He started leaning in closer to my face, and I saw what was going to happen. Dad was so close, I could feel him breathing down my neck. I swallowed my fear, and spat, "Yeah, and this, right now, is still the alcohol. When are you going to stop and actually care?" I shrugged his hands away from my shoulders and ran out the door.

I ran and ran and ran until I got to a hospital. I ran towards the front desk. "Good evening, mevrouw*, how can I help you?" The lady said.

"Please help me my dad was attacking me with plates and one shattered and fell apart in my arm and now I have plate shards in my arm and he also hit my head with a couple plates and my head hurts and just please help!" I said, not stopping for air. I paused to breath, then burst into tears.

I cried as I was taken to the ER to have the shards taken out because they were deep in my arm. I cried as they wrapped my arm in gauze and gave me a pair of whale pajamas to sleep in for the night. I cried as I was put in the sleeping ward so I could spent the night there.

When I was done crying, I stoked the head of the stuffed animal dog they gave me. I know, I'm too old for stuffed animals, but it was nice having the comfort.

"He's supposed to love me." I whispered to the black stuffed dog. "Why doesn't he?" I asked.

Then I fell asleep, cradling the dog in my arms.

* * *

**A/N:**

Me: So...I started crying while writing this. It's kinda sad really. I actually had a dream about this, except Anna was me and Peter was my English teacher...talk about scary.

Kayla: So, disclaimer! Raven and I don't own The Fault in Our Stars! John Green does!

Me: Feel free to check out out other current story, X-men: Class Six! Thank you for reading! Please follow, favorite, and review!


	2. 2: The Question of Love

**Chapter Two: The Question of Love**

"Anna? Wake up, honey."

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Lidewij standing above me. "Ready to come home?" She asked. I shook my head. "What about Dad? If we go through something like that again, it could be more fatal. I don't want to take any risks."

Lidewij shook her head. "I talked to Peter. He swore he wouldn't ever do that again around you. And if he does, I swear I'll help."

I looked up at her. "Promise?"

"Promise."

~X~

When we got home, the first thing I did was go up to my room. I closed and locked the door, then sat down at my desk with Lidewij's laptop. There were more emails, another one from a Hazel Grace Lancaster. This one had already been replied to, and the one from Augustus Waters had been replied to, too. I was afraid of what Dad said.

I heard my door knob move, and then there was a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" I yelled.

"Dad." A voice said from the other side. "Can I come in?"

"Is an elephant afraid of peanuts?" I yelled.

Silence. Then a "No!" came from the other side.

"There's your answer." I said.

"Come on, honey, let me in!" Dad yelled.

"Oh yeah!" I yelled back. "How many drinks did you have before I got here?"

Silence.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." I yelled.

"Anna Marie Van Houten, let me in this room right now!"

"Go away!" I screamed.

Silence. Then footsteps walking away. I shook my head, then continued to scroll through my emails.

Now, I'm homeschooled. I haven't been to a public school since we moved here. But I still have a couple of friends in America that I chat with from time to time. One of them just happens to be Tess.

I got on my email and asked her _wanna Skype?_ I waited for a moment, then my laptop beeped.

_Omg, yes! Logging on now! _

I logged into Skype, waited a moment, saw Tess's username, clicked it, and waited. In an instent, came face-to-face with a blond haired, green eyed girl. _  
_

"Hey girlie!" Tess said. "I've missed you so mu-wow. What the hell did you do to your arm?"

I looked down at my arm, which was still wrapped in gauze. "Dad." I said to the laptop.

"Ah." Tess said. Tess understands what happens with Dad, so she knows all my family troubles.

"So, how's Amsterdam?" Tess asked. I shrugged. "Like any other place, I guess."

Tess nodded. We sat in silence for a bit, then she sighed. "Well, this has been a rather pointless conversation."

"Please don't go." I said. "It's just...It's just-" then I broke down into tears. "It's just that he doesn't love me. He physically hurts me and I don't like it. Why doesn't he, Tess, why doesn't he?"

Tess was silent for a minute. Then she asked, "How many drinks is he having per day?"

"A million, at least." I said.

"There's your answer." Tess said. "What?" I asked, confused.

"He does love you, deep down inside. But with all the alcohol he's having, his emotions are muddled up and he can't think clearly. So, therefore, it's not him that's doing this, it's the alcohol. He's still there. You just can't see him."

"And you say adults delve deep theories." I said.

I could hear that smirk, she was so proud.

"Alright. Well, I'm gonna get to bed. Night Tess."

"Figuratively speaking, it's almost eleven in the morning. But who cares? Good night, Anna."

The laptop beeped. I closed it, then walked over to my bed and curled up in a pile of pillows.

~X~

When I woke up, I was as hungry as hell. Wait- that can't be right. Oh well.

I looked over at my alarm. It was around 6:30. No wonder I was hungry.

I got out of bed and unlocked my door. Then I pressed my ear against the wood. Hearing nothing, I opened the door slowly and walked down the stairs.

In the kitchen, I searched around in the pantry until I found a chocolate granola bar. I unwrapped it, then chewed the poor prey made of flour and cocoa beans. I grabbed another one, then turned around and came face to face with Dad.

He looked sober enough. Not only that, but apologetic too. He opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, then thought better of it and closed it.

"Listen, Anna," Dad began. "I'm so sorr-"

"Save it." I said, mouth full of granola. I went up and gave Dad a one-armed hug and kissed him on the cheek. "You're doing fine. It's just alcohol." I continued. Then I patted him on the back, and then went upstairs, probably leaving Peter Van Houten dumbstruck in the kitchen.

I had eaten both granola bars by the time I had gotten to my room. I closed the door behind me, then changed into shorts and tank top and crawled into bed. Then I stared at the ceiling for a while, until about one in the morning.

Then I fell into a dreamless sleep, wondering if life was this shitted up for everyone.

* * *

**A/N:**

Me: So, reading (and rereading and rereading) TFioS, I suddenly see a cause and effect play out in my head. If Anna never had cancer, Peter would've never written AIA, which would've caused Hazel to not recommend Gus the book, which would've caused the Amsterdam trip to never happen, which would make Gus die a virgin and alone.

Kayla: Raven and her scary brain. We don't own TFioS! John Green does!

Me: Please follow, favorite, and review! And don't forget to check out our other stories! Thanks!


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